And Now They Know
by elizabethday
Summary: A two-shot of Rory telling the most important people in her life the Big News.
1. Chapter 1

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm pregnant." Rory held her breath as she waited for her mother to say something. But eventually she ran out of air. "Mom? Say something. Please?"

Lorelei sputtered, obviously trying to get her brain working again. "Pregnant?" Her voice was soft, as if it were a sacred word. A life-altering word. Which Rory supposed it was.

She nodded. "Yeah. I, Rory Gilmore, am pregnant. And I don't have a job, nor do I have any direction, and the father of my child is marrying someone else, and I don't know what to do! And, I mean-"

"Logan is the father?" Lorelei's brain had finally caught up, but it was hitched on this detail her daughter had so thoughtlessly imparted. "Logan Huntzberger, the man you've been having an affair with, the man who is _engaged,_ is the father?"

Rory shrugged. What else did she have to say? It was fact. She was having a baby in eight months, and Logan was the father.

"How long have you known?"

"A few weeks."

"A few weeks?" Lorelei stood, overwhelmed. "I need- I need time with his. I just- I have to go."

Tears sprang to Rory's eyes. "Mom, please! I need you. I need your help! I can't do this on my own."

Lorelei spun around. "You can't do this on your own? You weren't _supposed_ to have to do it on your own! You were _supposed_ to do everything differently than me! You-" She swiped her thumb under her eyelashes, catching a lone tear. "I need to go."

Rory nodded again, dejected and with tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry. I really am sorry."

"Yeah." Lorelei spun on her heel and walked off, leaving her daughter on the steps of the gazebo that had played such a huge part in their lives. So many things had happened there, including a wedding. And now a baby announcement.

At first she couldn't decide where to go. She considered going home, but it was too empty. She thought about going on a hike, but one mini, life-changing hike was more than enough. She briefly contemplated driving to Nantucket, but she eventually remembered that this would be more than a little trigger for her and her mother.

Of course, she ended up at Luke's. Her _husband's_ diner. She had begged him to come home with her, to spend the entire day in bed like normal newlyweds and come out of hiding for the party that night. But, the considerate man that he was, he insisted that she and Rory spend time together. If only he knew.

He was wiping up the counter when she walked in, his flannel and baseball cap a far cry from the suit he had been wearing the night before. Hearing the bell on the door, he looked up and grinned when he saw her. She attempted a smile just as big, but it obviously fell short, because he immediately put his stuff down and walked around the counter.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

Her heart nearly burst at the concern and dedication. If only knew he was about to receive insane news. If only he knew that he was about to become a grandfather.

Oh, god. She was going to become a grandmother!

At that thought, she burst into tears.

"I can't be a grandma! I'm only forty-eight. Oh, god. Oh, god! A grandmother! I can hardly even be a mother. I'm not that old lady with the pantsuits and the giant Jackie O hair. I'm not my mother. Not yet! Oh, god. Emily Gilmore is going to be a _great_ grandmother. Do you know how well that is going to go over? Well, it'll go over about as well as Hillary Clinton's emails went over. Possibly worse."

"Lorelei, what are you talking about?" It was nearly impossible for Luke to decipher a Lorelei Gilmore ramble on a good day, but these words were hysterical and tear-filled. He grabbed her shoulders and propelled her ahead of him. "Go upstairs to the apartment. I'll tell Cesar I'm leaving and meet you up there in just a second."

Lorelei did as she was told and sat down on the bed. Her brain was hardly functioning, and she stared at the wall until Luke was suddenly in her line of sight. He pulled up a chair in front of her and grabbed her hands.

"What's going on?"

Her eyes were glassy, and she took a deep breath. "Luke," she said tremulously, "you're going to be a grandpa."

He didn't move. He didn't speak. She actually wondered if he'd had an aneurism.

"Did you hear me?"

"April?" He was white. Bone white.

"Rory."

He shot to his feet. "Rory's pregnant? How did this happen?"

"Well, Luke, I thought you knew. When a man and a woman-"

"She's only thirty-two!"

"I know."

"She's not married."

"I know."

"She doesn't even really have a job!"

"Luke, I know! You don't think I haven't thought about all of that? That she hasn't thought about all of that? This is the reality. We are going to have a baby in the family in eight short months, and I don't know how to handle it! All I can think of right now is my mother's reaction when I told her I was having Rory. She freaked! She wasn't supportive. She judged me every single day until I was itching to move anywhere, including Timbuktu! I don't want to do that to Rory.

"But this wasn't supposed to happen to her!" Her tears were coming in earnest now, along with her fury. "She was supposed to be different. She was supposed to do everything right. We had plans. She was going to go to Harvard- which she didn't do- but at least she went to Yale! She was going to become a famous journalist- which she was struggling with- but now she's writing a book! She was supposed to get married- if she wanted- and _then_ have kids. Now what? She's going to be stuck in this town just like I was, working at a job that pays barely anything, praying that she can just make ends meet? She deserves better than that! What do I say to her? 'Congrats, kid! Can't wait to meet it?' Or, 'At least you're not that Octomom, having to become a stripper to feed your million kids!' But maybe she will be! We don't know if she's having octuplets."

"That's good, go with that one."

She covered her face with her hands. "And I just left her there, sitting on the steps by herself. I don't know how she's feeling! Oh, god, I don't even know if she's planning on keeping it! All I managed to find out is that Logan is the father, and god knows-"

"Logan's the father?" Luke stuttered. "Is she sure?"

"She seemed pretty positive." She groaned. "I need to go back and talk to her. We need to figure this out. We can do this. Right?"

He wrapped her up in his arms. "As long as you don't take off to do that Wild trek again. We can handle this. All of us, together." Suddenly, he stepped away. "I've gotta go tell Jess."

Lorelei threw her hands up, her face a comical mask of disbelief. "What on earth? You need to help me with the transitions here, because I'm not seeing how he fits into this picture."

"Jess will want to know. He just will."

"You can't tell him. You can't tell anyone. I don't even know what her plans are yet. I don't even know if I was supposed to tell you! And she should probably tell Logan before she tells anyone else."

He sighed. "Fine. I'll let her tell him. But she needs to. He'll want to know."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"The men in my family just really care for the Gilmore girls."

She smirked and pulled him tight against her. "You know, I'm not a Gilmore girl anymore."

"You're right! I'd almost forgotten. You're Mrs. Lorelei Danes now. It has a good ring to it. Now we'll just add Grandma to it. Grandma Danes."

Lorelei pulled away. "I hate you so much right now. I will not be called Grandma Danes. That sweet angel will call me something cool, something hip. 'Sugar' or 'G-maw.'" She wrinkled her nose. "Okay, not 'G-maw,' but maybe 'Lolly.' 'Lolly' is good, right? Ooh! Or what about 'Lovey,' like Kris Jenner?"

"You love that baby already."

"You're right." She grinned. "I do."

Lorelei eventually found Rory in the Stars Hollow Gazette office, staring at the wall.

"Hey, kid."

Rory looked up, and her eyes were red. "So far, two things have sucked about this pregnancy. Three. Just kidding, four."

"Just four, huh? That's about a hundred and ninety six less than the list I came up with when I was pregnant."

"Number one, I can't drink. I came here with the expectation that the scotch would soothe my troubles, but then I remembered I can't drink."

"You're keeping the baby, then?"

"Yes." If Rory noticed her mother's relief, she pretended not to. "Number two, morning sickness sucks. You know, I've thrown up every single morning for the last week? Stupid."

"I remember those days. The only things I could keep down were orange soda and strawberry poptarts. And apples."

"Number three, do I tell Logan? What if he wants nothing to do with the baby? What if he hides it from Odette? Or worse, what if I have to share my child with that woman?"

"What do you want him to do?"

Lorelei's question seemed to jerk Rory out of her own mind, and she looked at her with nothing short of fear.

"I don't know. Part of me wants to pull a Lorelei Gilmore. If you could raise me on your own, then surely I can raise the kid by myself. But Logan deserves to know his kid, Mom. He's not like Dad. He's not this kid who refuses to take responsibility for anything in his life. He cares about people and he works hard. But I also don't want my child to grow up with the Huntzberger entitlement. And would he want to get married? Because I don't think I'm ready for that. But I also do _not_ want to share my child with Odette. So basically, I have no clue."

Lorelei sat on the edge of the chair and slipped her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "I know I had an Emily Gilmore moment back there, but I want you to know that I am here for you. I will be with you every step of the way, and there will be no judgement on my end. How could there be? I left you in a bucket!

"And know this: I think you will be an _amazing_ mother. There will be hiccups along the way, there always are. Heck, I nearly coughed up a lung once or twice, but you will love this baby, and this baby will adore you. And I'm going to make an excellent Lovey."

"Lovey? Like Kris Jenner?"

"Eh. I'm working on it, okay? It's a work in progress." She paused. "What was the fourth thing that sucks about pregnancy?"

"There's no fourth."

"But you said there was a fourth."

"There's no fourth."

"But you said there was a fourth!" Lorelei was beginning to sound like the four year old Rory was going to find herself with in just a few short years.

"Fine. The fourth was going to be that you were disappointed in me."

"Oh, kid. I'm not disappointed in you. Disappointed in this bump in the road? Maybe. But I still love you and I will love this kid."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Can I replace your fourth?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Sure. What's the fourth?"

Lorelei grinned. "You have to tell Emily Gilmore!"


	2. Chapter 2

Rory rubbed her right side where baby Lorelei was kicking. If this pregnancy was any indication, her progeny was going to have Lorelei Senior's outrageous personality. She glanced at her phone to make sure she was going in the right direction. She had visited London before, but never by herself.

It was a spur the moment trip. It wasn't until she thought she'd lost the baby that she had realized she couldn't keep Logan in the dark. He needed to know. So, she'd taken the red-eye to London without telling anyone.

She finally arrived in front of the apartment building, but she couldn't bring herself to go inside. It suddenly occurred to her what she was doing. What if Odette was in the apartment? What if Logan wasn't even here? What if he wasn't even in the country?

As much as she wanted to turn back, she was already here. She'd flown halfway across the world, and she couldn't return home without at least seeing him. She took a deep breath and called him.

"Ace?"

Hearing his voice brought so many emotions to the surface, and she burst into tears.

"What's wrong, Ace?" He was concerned, that much she could tell from his voice, and when she couldn't answer him, he grew frantic. "Rory, what's wrong? Come on, babe, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."

"These damn hormones," she muttered. "Umm, hi."

"Rory, what's going on? Where are you?"

She laughed, but it sounded more like a cry. "I'm outside your apartment building, actually."

"Really? That's great!" He paused. "Then why are you crying?"

"I need to talk to you." She looked down at her extended belly. "Or show you, I guess."

"Well, okay. I'm at the office, but I can be there in five."

Rory sat on the bench to wait, anxiously twisting the ring on her finger. The second he stepped out of his town car, he would know. And she had no idea how he would react. What was the worst case scenario? He refuses to listen to her and wants nothing to do with their baby? That wouldn't be so bad. She wasn't going to tell him in the first place, right?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a black town car pulling up to the curb. She stood and pulled her coat tighter around her, praying that it would temporarily hide her condition. Her heart stopped when she saw him. He was devastatingly handsome. And brilliant. And kind.

His strides were purposeful as he walked toward her, a briefcase swinging in his hand. It was almost slow motion as his grin transformed into a confused frown. He had noticed.

"Rory?" His voice cracked, and she had never heard him sound so unsure.

Her smile looked more like a grimace. "We need to talk."

The blood in his face had made its way somewhere else, and she was vaguely concerned that he was going to pass out.

"Logan?" When he didn't answer, she tried again. "Logan, can we go inside? I'm freezing."

He seemed to break out of his trance temporarily and nodded weakly. He opened the door for her and led her up to his penthouse. When they got inside, he made a beeline for the bar and poured himself a generous glass of scotch in an effort to regain some sense of equilibrium.

Rory sat opposite of him and wracked her brain for words. She was normally a wordsmith regardless of the situation, but now the words were nowhere to be found.

"You're pregnant."

They sounded happy. Anyone who didn't know him would think he was happy for her, but she knew him. That was his forced happy voice, the one he used when he was at social functions and didn't want to offend anyone. He had never used that voice with her before, and she hated it.

"Yep." She didn't know what to say, and settled for stating the obvious.

"You're pregnant."

"You said that already."

He ran his fingers through his hair and paced the length of the living room. "Who's the father?"

She was dumbfounded. It had never really occurred to her that he would think it was someone else's. "She's yours."

His pacing stopped, and he froze. "What?"

"Did you really think the baby could be anyone else's?"

He glared at her. "Well, you were still dating Peter, weren't you?"

"Paul. I think." She crossed her arms. "But that's beside the point! The point is that I am 100 percent sure you are the father. I wasn't going to tell you, but then I thought I lost the baby. And I realized that it wouldn't be fair to you to live your entire life without knowing our child. So I flew out here to tell you that we are having a baby. A daughter, to be more precise. Who, in all likelihood, will be named Lorelei."

"I don't- I don't know what to say." He paused, and his eyes narrowed. "What a second. You weren't going to tell me? You weren't going to tell me that I have a daughter?" His voice was getting louder. "You didn't think that I had the right to know that a child was living in the world who had half of my DNA? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Rory had stood by this point as well. "What is wrong with me? Well, what is wrong is that you are getting married to a woman I've never met! And why have I never met her? Because I was the Other Woman. And let me tell you right now, I am not sharing my daughter with your whore wife."

"You may not exactly have a choice in the matter. I'm sure I have legal rights."

"Not if I don't want you to."

"You wouldn't dare," he growled.

"Oh, I wouldn't? Well, here is the deal. I don't care if you want a role in the baby's life. Hell! I'd welcome it. She deserves to have a father. But under no circumstances will I allow Odette _or_ your parents to have anything to do with her. So if you want to be a part of her life, you'll just have to figure it out."

"Rory-"

She shook her head. "No. It's not up for discussion. I came here to tell you, and I've done that so I'm going to leave now." Her hands shook as she pressed the elevator button.

"We need to talk about this. I'm going to be-" he gulped, "I'm going to be her father. I want to help. I can give you money and-"

"No!" Rory surprised herself with her vehemence. "I don't want your money!"

"Then what do you want from me?" Logan's eyes were glassy. and he was pleading with her. "Please. Rory, what do you want from me?"

Her own eyes turned glassy. "I want you. With me. With us. That's all I've ever wanted."

The elevator arrived, and she stepped on. She didn't break eye contact with Logan until the doors were firmly closed.


End file.
